How to Discipline a Sensitive Child

As all parents know, no two children are the same, and there is no disciplining strategy that is guaranteed to work for every child. Given the diversity of personalities and temperaments, parenting requires tailoring to an individual child’s needs by finding the most effective ways to encourage certain behaviors and discourage others. Ditto if you have one sensitive childsomeone who feels emotions, good and bad, very strongly.

Disciplining a highly sensitive child given the intensity of her feelings can feel particularly tense as it can set off another emotional rollercoaster ride. However, this sensitivity does not mean that you should avoid discipline or that their emotions are an issue. It just means that your child might need a little more help learning how to regulate their emotions.

Signs that you have a sensitive child

A sensitive child feels emotions stronger than usual. Sign of a sensitive child These include crying easily, worrying, getting into trouble, and having major mood swings, be it overly excited, extremely angry, or deeply upset.

Some additional signs include rapid escalations of emotions, a much stronger reaction to a problem than expected, or difficulty in talking about their emotions. “Another clue is whether your child responds very differently to your parenting methods than your other children,” said Jami Dumler, a licensed clinical social worker Thrive.

If you have a sensitive child, it’s important to remember that while these emotions can make parenting more difficult, it is does not mean that you are a bad parent or that you are a bad child. “Sensitive, heartfelt children tend to really question the status quo approach to parenting and seem to have major behavioral struggles at times,” Dumler said. “However, remembering that the root cause of this is their deep emotions and sensitivity, and that they simply need a different approach, that will keep you grounded during the difficult times.”

How to discipline a sensitive child

As the Verywell family advises, it’s not a good idea not to discipline your sensitive child for fear of their reactions. As a notice“When you skip discipline, you are also denying your sensitive child an opportunity to learn and grow by experiencing the consequences of their actions, which are essential to healthy development.” However, there are a few additional strategies to consider when teaching Disciplining a sensitive child is useful, one of which is remembering that they have heightened emotions and adjusting accordingly.

Dumler recommends talking about feelings and behaviors in small increments, and approaching them with empathy and curiosity. “There [sensitive] Children often have trouble talking about and de-escalating their emotions, it’s important to focus on modeling during outbursts and engaging in calming approaches rather than trying to teach or process in those moments,” Dumler said . “Once your child is quiet, Then you can help teach coping skills, understand what triggered the emotion, and find better solutions to problems.” However, it will take time to reach this calmer state.

In the meantime, it’s also really important not to treat this sensitivity as a bad thing or talk negatively about their heightened reactions, as it can make a child feel too much when the only problem is that they are feels emotions stronger than others.

“Parents want to avoid negative language like ‘attention-getting behavior and finger pointing,” Dumler said. “Yelling at, showing frustration with, Giving sensitive and sensitive children time off often doesn’t work and sends the message that the child’s feelings are too big and they have to deal with them on their own.”

Some additional strategies This includes setting clear boundaries, teaching them to talk about their feelings, praising their efforts, teaching them how to problem-solve when they’re frustrated, drawing logical conclusions, and giving plenty of downs too Time so that they are not overwhelmed.